A statement by the Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM), signed by its governor, as outlined that cyber security risks for commercial banks have been tightened.

The statement says the central bank is issuing new information and cyber security risk management guidelines to replace the information technology risk management guidelines of 2016. RBM Governor Dalitso Kabambe said that the development is important, considering that information and cyber risk breaches could result in denial of service to customers, exposure of private information, deletion of or tampering with customers’ and banks’ records and inability to manage both its own as well as customer.

The development happens after FDH underwent hacking claims last year, as news circulated online claiming that the Bank has been hacked and customer data has been compromised. FDH Bank assured the general public that it has not been hacked and customer data has not been compromised in any way. In a statement released by the bank’s management, the bank has admitted that on 13 November 2019, a group calling itself Shadow Kill contacted the Bank through an anonymous email with claims that the group had breached FDH Bank security protocols.